William Brandt
|residence = United States |affiliation = Impossible Mission Force |profession = Intelligence operative Analyst (formerly) |rank = Agent |expertise = High intelligence Great physical strength High durability Great reflexes Marksmanship Master Martial artist Great driving skills |actor = Jeremy Renner |firstseen = Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol |lastseen = Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation }} William Alexander Brandt (born c. 1971) is one of the main protagonists in the 2011 film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and in the 2015 film Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. He is an Impossible Mission Force operative who was demoted to the rank of analyst after a failed mission before becoming again a field agent after a new mission with Ethan Hunt and his team. Biography IMF service Protection Detail Brandt was assigned to guard Ethan and Julia Meade-Hunt against a 6-man Serbian hit squad in Croatia. He felt the job would be simple due to them knowing of the coming force, but felt he should warn Ethan and Julia nonetheless. However, he considered that orders are orders and kept quiet about the coming danger. One day, Ethan went for a run and Brandt followed, leaving two agents with Julia. When Brandt returned, the two agents were unconscious and Julia was missing. Days later, Julia's body was reportedly found, causing Brandt to retire from his position as a Field Agent and become an Analyst. Preventing Nuclear War Brandt travels with the Secretary of the IMF to retrieve Ethan from Russia after his mission to infiltrate the Kremlin was aborted and the building bombed by a man code-named Cobalt. During their extraction, the Secretary assignes Ethan a mission to retrieve stolen nuclear launch codes from Kurt Hendricks, who Ethan realizes is Cobalt. Brandt is confused by the Secretary's reasoning but is motioned to keep quiet. After Ethan acceptes the mission, set to begin on an IMF train, the vehicle they were riding in is attacked by Russian agents and the driver and Secretary are killed. The vehicle plunges from a bridge into the water below. Ethan leads Brandt out of the submerged vehicle and the two escapes after Ethan lights up a flare and attaches it to the Secretary's body as a diversion. Brandt and Ethan then walk to the rendezvous point where they are told Jane Carter and Benji Dunn would be waiting. After searching for and finally spotting the train, the two are forced to run for it as the train is already in motion. After a code is entered and Ethan uses the retinal scanner to confirm his identity as an IMF agent, the two boards the train. After regrouping with Benji and Jane, the group formulates a plan to stop Hendricks and his right-hand man Marius Wistrom, by intercepting an exchange between the terrorists and an assassin named Sabine Moreau at the Burj Khalifa. When the mission goes awry, Brandt reveals his past as an agent to Benji and Jane. After learning that Hendricks requires a defunct Soviet military satellite in order to launch the missile, Brandt and the team head to India to stop the launch. Equipped with a special magnetic vest, Brandt enters the server room to deactivate the satellite. However, Hendricks ultimately succeeds in launching the missile. As the group head to the broadcasting station to acquire the launch-control device, Hunt pursues Hendricks whilst Brandt and the others attempt to bring the broadcasting station back online. However, Wistrom turns the power off, leading Brandt to search for the generator. In an ensuing struggle with Wistrom, Brandt finds himself unable to overpower the terrorist and reach for the switch. Benji intervenes in the nick of time, shooting Wistrom and allowing Brandt to reactivate the generator, leading Hunt to prevent the missile from detonating. Mission from Ethan Eight weeks after stopping Hendricks' plan, Ethan asked the team of Benji, Jane and Brandt to take new missions. Benji and Jane quickly agreed, but Brandt attempted to leave without accepting. Ethan stopped him and asked him how he knew Julia was actually dead. He asked Brandt if he had seen the body and then revealed to him that he faked Julia's death to protect her. With closure and relief, Brandt accepted the next mission, leaving Ethan to watch his wife from afar. Confronting The Syndicate After the Secretary's death, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Alan Hunley, and Brandt go to the senate committee to discuss on the IMF and a whole, ending with the CIA and IMF merging. When Hunt is captured by operatives working for a British proposed project-turned powerful terrorist organization The Syndicate and later branded a traitor, Brandt warns him to stay undercover and avoid Hunley, but later goes to Hunt's oldest partner Luther Stickell to help him find Hunt and Dunn through a woman Ethan knows and trusts, which is revealed to be Ilsa Faust, a British undercover agent. With his help, the team, alongside Ilsa, successfully stop former MI6 agent Solomon Lane, including the arrest of Chief Atlee for his attempted cover-up of The Syndicate's creation and existence, and the IMF is reinstated once again, with Hunley becoming the new Secretary of the IMF. Characteristics Personality William Brandt changed after Julia's "death" during his mission, he blamed himself and left the field to become an analyst. Having hid this from Hunt, he feels guilty for the incident, ad has trouble meeting with the former again. During the events of Ghost Protocol, he shows himself to amazed at Ethan's luck and skills, notably when he used a flare to trick the Russian security forces into believing it was him, asking Hunt on how they would shoot at the flare, with Ethan replying he knew they were not thinking. Additionally, he was pessimistic and cynical on their mission, doubting that Ethan had enough time to get to the manual control room for controlling the security cameras and elevators. Brandt was a "by the book" agent, preferring to stick to the mission and his orders. When Jane had killed Moreau, he argued with her on following mission procedure. However, Brandt is shown to have a dry sense of humor, cracking jokes and sarcastic comments in and out of missions. Out of all Ethan Hunt's teammates from the years, Brandt showed himself to have a low self-esteem and wasn't confident on both the mission and himself. After the mission was done, he believed that Ethan wanted nothing to do with him, expressing this by rejecting the new mission from Ethan, however accepted this after learning that Julia's death was planned and she is alive. After this, he became happier and loyal to Hunt, especially in the time of Rogue Nation when telling the former to stay undercover when Alan Hunley was looking for him. Brandt is also good with standing up for his team and speaking to senates, notably shown in the committee when talking on the IMF's actions. After working with them, Brandt is more comfortable with his teammates, notably Benji and Jane, and especially Ethan Hunt. Abilities Brandt is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts. He takes down Moreau's henchman down with ease, and his skills appear to be equal to or greater than Ethan Hunt's as he is twice able to disarm him. He also stands a fight against Marius Wistrom, and the only reason he does not beat him there and then is because he is busy trying to disarm the bomb through the electricity panel simultaneously. Gallery Brandt.jpg|Brandt with the IMF Secretary and Hunt. William Brandt - Profile.jpg MI GP SS04.jpg|Brandt with the team. Picture-Three.jpg MI GP SS05.jpg|In Dubai. 75170d42025f5bf13ca465f26b3ee6e9.jpg tumblr_m4bndk2O6a1qcljr7o3_1280.jpg|"What the hell is that?" MI GP SS15.jpg Mission-impossible-ghost-protocol-latest-photos.jpeg|Brandt getting confronted by Hunt. MI GP SS35.jpg MI GP SS38.jpg|Disarming Hunt. MI GP SS37.jpg|Brandt telling Hunt that "we all have secrets". ;-3.jpeg|Brandt explains his past to Jane and Benji. mission_impossible_4_ghost_protocol_7.jpg|William Brandt jumps onto the big fan mission_impossible_4_ghost_protocol_8.jpg|Brandt learns the truth from Hunt. MI5-JRenner_VRhames.jpg|Brandt and Luther brandt.png mi5-15866r_web.jpg MI5-TCruise JRenner.jpg Mission-Impossible Rogue-Nation 001sm.jpg Behind the Scenes William Brandt was portrayed by American actor Jeremy Renner in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Appearances * Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol * Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Characters Category:Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation characters Category:Americans Category:IMF agents